doomed

American  

[doomd] / dumd /

adjective

1. destined, or seemingly destined, especially to an adverse fate.

   Math wizards were able to pinpoint the final resting place of the doomed jet deep beneath the ocean.

2. judged guilty and sentenced, especially to death; condemned.

   Several times today and tonight the doomed man has wept like a child in his prison cell.

3. ordained or fixed, as a sentence or fate.

   In this age of finding everything online, it won’t be long before seed catalogs suffer the same doomed fate as most gardening magazines.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of doom.

Other Word Forms

• self-doomed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of doomed

doom + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

The doomed are people marked by very bad luck, particularly death. When you learn about a tragedy, like a tsunami that kills many people, it makes you feel terrible for the doomed. Doomed is a plural noun for referring to a group of unfortunate people, and it's also an adjective describing someone who's destined to die. A runaway dog that kills the animal control officer's pet chickens is doomed, and many characters in Shakespeare's tragic plays are doomed. You can also follow doomed with "to" to mean "destined" or "fated." Your uncle might be doomed to continue working as a school bus driver for the rest of his career.

Example Sentences

Can you just briefly explain what the Justice Department is charging here and why you think the case will fail, and why it’s just so worrying, even if it’s doomed to fail?

From Slate • May 4, 2026

It was an indication, however, of just how highly rated the lavishly gifted Dibling had become in a Southampton side that was doomed to relegation long before the end of last season.

From BBC • May 4, 2026

Choosing to directly take on the major airlines, rather than carving out niche routes, was a critical error that doomed the company.

From MarketWatch • May 2, 2026

Like so many other relics of the Soviet past in Central Asia, it is doomed to vanish amid a distancing from Russia and a top-down drive to boost national culture.

From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026

As he returned to the city that evening, Koch pulled into a gas station and asked for a map so that he could pick out the doomed towns.

From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow

Related Words

• ill-fated
• wrecked